


Space Dad Stomachache

by The_Sickfic_Sideblog



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Burping, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Stomachache, shallura - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 15:43:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10221725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Sickfic_Sideblog/pseuds/The_Sickfic_Sideblog
Summary: Shiro gets a stomachache and denies it. Until Allura can get her hands on him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Some sexy implications, but nothing actually happens.

Allura was talking. Shiro really tried to pay attention, but his mind couldn’t attach to the words. She was debriefing the rest of the paladins about what was going on. Something about alien ambassadors coming to confirm an alliance against Zarkon? He wasn’t sure. He was too busy focusing on his stomach.

Ever since the Black Paladin woke up, his stomach felt...off. He felt nauseated, but never like he was going to vomit. He even managed to get breakfast down. No one else seemed to be feeling ill, so he didn’t mention it and feigned health the entire day. This was his mistake.

Allura finished her debriefing and left the paladins to their work. Coran followed her out the door, discussing political strong suits with her. This left the paladins looking to Shiro for instruction.

“Alright, guys. Like Allura said, this is important, so we have to make a good impression. We need this civilization on our side.”

“Allura didn’t say what they looked like,” Pidge noted, “Do you think they’ll be humanoid, or something else?”

She and Hunk went on a small tangent, theorizing about the new lifeforms. Shiro pressed a fist up to his mouth, forcing the trapped air up through his nose. He may have gotten comfortable with his fellow paladins and established a strong bond and trust with them, but he was  _ not _ about to burp in front of them. He had  _ standards _ . Standards that some of them proved to not have.

But of course, they picked up on it immediately. They were an observant bunch, Shiro could give them that. Keith was the first to speak up. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

Lance mimicked the motion, “That. You looked like you were about to double over. Are you alright?”

_ So they're working against me... _ Shiro thought,  _ At least they're working together. _

“I'm fine. It was nothing. Anyway, we need to shine up the deck before the ambassadors come. This may be our home, we may live here 24/7, but this place needs to be spotless by the time they-  _ urrp! _ ”

There was no hiding that one. It completely snuck up on him. The other paladins raised their eyebrows in surprise, some more impressed than startled.

“Dude, Shiro, nice one.” Hunk grinned, offering his fist to bump. Not sure how else to save face, Shiro chuckled nervously and returned the fist bump.

“Sorry. Is everything clear?”

The paladins nodded and attended to their chores.

Shiro thought that would’ve been enough. He just needed to get a bit of air up, that was it. But his stomach said otherwise. As the paladins cleaned the deck, Shiro had to continuously stifle burps coming up his throat. His stomach didn’t hurt, and he was sure he wasn’t going to throw up. He just felt uneasy, which was almost worse. At least if he was going to throw up, he could’ve gotten it over with.

_ No matter, _ he thought,  _ It’s nothing to be worried about. There’ll be some time between cleaning the deck and meeting the ambassadors that I can relax and take some medicine. _

Cleaning the deck proved to be more strenuous than anyone thought. It was more than just a mopping job and cleaning the windows with Windex. Repairs had to be made, screws had to be tightened, and Coran gave the paladins this strange fluid he called ‘deck polish’ that needed to be applied in zero-gravity. None of these actions helped Shiro’s stomach, especially the zero-gravity.

Meanwhile, the concerned comments kept coming, and Shiro kept deflecting.

“You look kind of pale.”

“It's the lighting. You look pale too.”

“Your stomach doesn't sound good.”

“Digestive noises are natural in the process of eating.”

“You keep holding your middle and moving slowly.”

“I tweaked a muscle in my abs during training.”

No one truly believed him. They could see right through him - something was clearly wrong. But when he snapped at Lance about asking any more questions, everyone went quiet. The  _ only _ time Shiro ever snapped was at Slav, and when tension was raised in extremely dangerous circumstances. Never when the others were worried about him.

Shiro sighed. In reality, he wanted to tell the paladins. He wanted to admit that he hadn’t been feeling good and he just wanted to lay down. He knew that if he confessed, they’d understand and care for him, or at the very least leave him alone to rest. But he had to be strong. Ambassadors were coming, the ship needed to be clean, and he needed to be a figurehead for Voltron.

“I’m sorry, Lance. I didn’t mean to yell. I’m just frustrated, and it was wrong to take it out on you.” He apologized. The Blue Paladin looked up at him, voice softer and more concerned than it’s normal tone.

“Shiro, you know you can tell us anything, right? We’re here for you, just like you’re here for us.”

Ah, yes. Lance’s uncanny ability to guilt trip anyone. All the paladins had it to some extent, but Lance mastered it (whether intentional or not). Shiro felt his resolve crumble a bit.

“I know. Thank you for being concerned. We’ll talk about it after we deal with the ambassadors.”

This was satisfying enough. The paladins went back to their work as Allura entered the deck.

“Shiro?”

“Yes, Princess?”

“I think there’s a problem with the quantum gearbox. We may need to manually resynchronize the primary and auxiliary auto-sequencers. The ambassadors would definitely notice if our gearbox wasn’t synchronized. Could you help me?”

Shiro truly had no idea what Allura said. He was smart, but there was some Altean tech that completely went over his head.

“Maybe Pidge would be a better person? She might actually understand...” he cut himself short, preventing all air from escaping his throat. There was burping in front of the paladins, but burping in front of a  _ princess _ was another matter. Not to mention, a very beautiful princess he was romantically attracted to.  _ That _ was unacceptable.

Allura smiled softly. She didn’t seem to notice. “Oh, you don’t need to understand. You just need to lift something big and press a few buttons at the same time I do. You might be more capable than Pidge.”

He couldn’t say no to that. After all, he was fine. But the thought of lifting heavy things made his stomach turn. It felt tight against his belt as if he’d drank two liters of soda in one sitting. He honestly wasn’t sure how long he could last before locking himself up in a closet and letting himself burp it all up.

“Of course, Princess.”

She lead him out of the room. Instead of taking a right towards the elevators, she took a left towards the housing units. Shiro was confused at first, but let it slide. He had no idea what a quantum gearbox was, why should he know where it was?

“Our gearbox is actually fine,” Allura confessed. She took another left and opened the door to her bedroom. “I just wanted to get you alone.”

Shiro’s eyes widened. He’d seen this situation before, he knew how it played out. Now was not the time, not with the ambassadors coming, not when he was feeling like this.

“Princess, we shouldn't-....not while the others might start looking for us...and I'm actually not feeling my best...” As he stammered, Allura took him by the hand and locked the door behind them. She brought him to the bed and sat him down.

“I know you aren't feeling well,” she pressed her palm against his chest, pushing him down into laying on her bed, “and for the millionth time. Call me Allura.”

_ Oh god, is this another Altean thing? Having sex while sick?  _ Any other day, or at least with preparation, Shiro may have been willing to try it. Before he could protest, the princess was unbuckling his belt.

“A-Allura!”

The buckle flopped to the side, and suddenly Shiro felt like he could breathe. He still felt uncomfortably full, but he was no longer in any pain. His guard crumpled. He truly couldn’t take it anymore.

“What-  _ huulp! _ ,” he clamped is metal hand over his mouth, “I-I’m so sorry, Princess! I didn’t-  _ hic-urrp! _ Sorry, I didn’t mean to, I’ve just-  _ uulp! _ ”

He just stopped talking. This was an absolute nightmare. Shiro clenched his eyes shut and felt his face go beet red, waiting for the verbal assault Allura was about to give him about being polite. Instead, he got something much nicer.

“It’s alright, Shiro. Relax. Trust me.”

Allura traced her fingers up from Shiro’s belt and rested then right above the belly button. She started to massage in slow circles, starting just around his navel. At first, Shiro was skeptical. He always thought stomach rubs were an old wives tale to lure children into the placebo effect.

“You...don’t mind?”

“Why would I mind? It’s helping you feel better, isn’t it?”

“It’s just-” he paused for a bit, swallowing down another gulp of air that tried to force its way up, “It’s considered impolite.”

The princess cocked her head a bit, “Really? Not to Alteans.”

Shiro’s shoulders relaxed. That was exactly what he needed to hear. Still, he kept his hand over his mouth and apologized with each little hiccup.

Allura chuckled a bit, “Finally. I thought I’d have to give you a tranquilizer to get you to relax.” Her other hand raked his white tuft away from his forehead, simultaneously checking for a fever. “You aren’t warm...”

“It’s because I’m not sick. Something just isn't settling well, or something. My stomach’s been acting up all day.”

“The abdominal circulations aren’t helping?”

Shiro couldn’t help but smile, “They’re called ‘belly rubs’, usually. They feel nice, but I don’t think they’re helping-”

But Allura started to use her palm. Her slightly calloused hands glided across his skin, slowly but surely calming his stomach down. Before long, Shiro was completely melted under her touch, relief completely flooding his body.

“Where did you learn that? Is it some Altean trick?”

The princess smiled and laid herself next to Shiro, “It’s not Altean. Ever since I learned that the new paladins of Voltron came from Earth, I've been reading up on all your subjects. Anatomy is particularly fascinating to me.”

She said the last sentence with a bit of a telling smirk. Shiro went red. Allura may have had a different culture than he did, but she picked up on his  _ fast _ .

But there was no exploring of anatomy that night. Allura gave Shiro medicine that would help him during the meeting. It went without a hitch, the ambassadors even commented on how nice the ship looked. And afterwards, once everyone started heading off to bed, the princess pulled Shiro to her bedroom again, giving him warm belly rubs and soft kisses until he drifted off to sleep.

 


End file.
